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Iranian Foreign Ministry Summons Swiss Ambassador Over US Claims on Iraqi Base Attack

© Sputnik / Andrey Stenin / Go to the mediabankIranian Foreign Ministry
Iranian Foreign Ministry - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, who also represents the United States' interests in Tehran, after Washington hit targets of Kataib Hezbollah, over the group's alleged involvement in an attack on Iraqi military base Camp Taji hosting the US-led coalition troops, the ministry said.
"Following the baseless remarks by the US president [Donald Trump] that the Islamic Republic of Iran is held accountable for the attack on the base of coalition forces in Iraq’s al-Taji, the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who represents the US interests, was summoned by the Director-General for the Americas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday evening, 13 March 2020, and was notified of our country’s strong protests against those comments (by the US president)", the ministry said in a statement, citing Mousavi.

The spokesman added that "the wrong US policies in Iraq" were the reason for the current tensions and US officials "could not shirk responsibility by making groundless and dangerous remarks".

In the early hours of 13 March, the US military conducted precision strikes on five weapon storage facilities of Kataib Hezbollah.

US army forces supervise during a training session at the Taji camp, north of Baghdad, with Iraqi soldiers, aimed at preparing them to install floating bridges, ahead of installing replacement ones in Mosul, on March 6, 2017 - Sputnik International
Attack on US-Coalition Base in Iraq Cannot be Used as Pretext for Foreign Ops on Its Soil - Baghdad
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said that Iran's culpability in the attack was not fully determined, however, the attack was most likely to be carried out by a rebel group backed by Tehran. On 13 March, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi refuted Iran's involvement in strikes on the Iraqi military base, in which three servicemen of the US-led coalition fighting against the Daesh* terror group were killed.

Late on 11 March, two US soldiers and one UK coalition servicemen were killed, as over 15 rockets hit Camp Taji, also causing injuries for over 10 people. A spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces, Tahsin al-Khafaji, said on Thursday that Iraqi troops were among those injured.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia

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